Weekend Adventures

Our family gatherings are always so much fun.  Between the little kids and the big kids, there is a lot of food and always something happening.

This Labor Day weekend was no different.  We are a family with a lot of allergies.  So any meal needs to be designed around nut, dairy and wheat allergies, not to mention my one daughter is vegan.

As I started to plan the menu, I realized that it would entail cooking 5 different foods for everyone.  Not my idea of fun.  So I decided to make a few of our favorite dishes and throw in some new recipes.  I came up with salmon patties, hamburger patties, quinoa greek salad, broccoli and homemade ice cream with fresh picked blackberries.

Never having made salmon patties before I found a good recipe on the internet that seemed simple enough.  And it was except for the fact that I had to take all the skin off the salmon and then made sure there weren't any bones in it.  The recipe called for PANKO but since we have the wheat allergies, I didn't use any.  Everyone concurred that the patties would be fine since part of the salmon was processed in my food processor with the veganaise, mustard and spices.

Next, the quinoa salad.  Everyone loves this salad as it's easy and has enough to please everyone's taste.  After cooking the quinoa, I always add spinach, Greek olives (sliced), feta cheese, cut cherry tomatoes, and chopped cucumbers.  Then a dressing of Greek seasoning and balsamic vinegar and olive oil.

Now for the broccoli.  Some fresh from my garden and some fresh from the farmer's market, I steamed the broccoli and afterwards add a splash of olive oil and Celtic salt.

Final menu item - ICE CREAM!  Earlier in the morning, we all went out to pick fresh blackberries.  The ice cream was stirring in the ice cream maker except for the blackberries.  Everyone agreed that they wanted to put the blackberries ON the ice cream not IN it.  So fresh ice cream with fresh blackberries to end the evening.

It was so much fun making everything with my daughters there to help.  I just love having everyone over and trying new recipes.

The verdict:
The salmon burgers were ok.  Nothing that great, they definitely needed more spicing up.  We all decided that we liked grilled salmon the best and next time, save the time and grill the salmon like we always do.  Some traditions are difficult to break!

The quinoa salad is always a hit and everyone asks for that everytime we get together so that's a given.  Broccoli, how could you go wrong with that - even the little ones love their 'trees'.

The ice cream enjoyed and savored by everyone.  My daughter's boyfriend said it was the best he ever had (do you think he just said that because he's the boyfriend?)

Another successful weekend.  Can't wait for the next one!